


The Red Swan | •Barnes

by theluna4real



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Hydra, Multi, Not Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two Compliant, Red Room, SHIELD, The Red Swan, winterwidow - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 12
Words: 13,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25499080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theluna4real/pseuds/theluna4real
Summary: •I have shed my skin so many times,the graveyards must be full,of all the people I used to be.•Folowing the unlucky and unmerciful path of a girl.From her childhood trauma to her adult nightmares.This book does not end well, as it does not start well.This story is not a fairytale, it's sad and full of despair. Because sometimes, from birth to death, life is just not happy.TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains violence, if you are sensible please do not read.
Relationships: Loki Laufeyson - Relationship, Maria Hill - Relationship
Kudos: 1





	1. The Red Swan

_I am not your girl,_

_I am not your trophy,_

_I am not your prize to win._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_I am the fire that burns a thousand fields._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_I am the ocean that drowns a thousand_ _soldiers_ _._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_I am death_ _itself_ _._  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**_° THE BLACK_ ** **_SWAN_ ** **_°_ **

**"** What is 'human' ? Is it an ability to reason ? To imagine ? To love or grieve ? If so. We are more human than any human ever will be **"**

 **°** **THE** **SHADOW** **OF DEATH** **°**

 **"** Be careful of that girl, there's a fire burning behind her eyes. She makes kingdoms fall and monsters wish they'd never been born"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**_-SYNOPSIS-_ **

_There was a saying amongst The Red Room._

Natasha walked down the stairs of The Red Room, joining her lover in his room. She found James at his window, his head pointed at the sky, yet, his eyes were closed. She engufred him in a hug from behind. Startling him.

_That the one time the Black Widow failed,_

James grabbed Natasha by the waist and kissed her, letting his hands travel to her stomach, where a baby bump was already forming. He smiled in the kiss, breaking it.

« We should choose a name ». He said. « If it's a girl, Amelia ». Natasha bursted out in laughter.

« What ? It's a great name ! » He deffended himself to the Widow.

_The Winter Soldier went after her._

« I am never naming my daughter Amelia, » Natasha stated. « find something else. » She asked.

James thought for a minute. « And why not Alaya ». Natasha smiled « It's better already ».

_They would whisper to each other 'If Fall ends, Winter is coming'._

« And if it's a boy we'll call him Calum, » He said, his hand still on natasha's belly. « or Steve. ».

Natasha smiled at the Winter Soldier. Since he had started training the Widows, H.Y.D.R.A hadn't been able to erase him again. He was slowly gaining his memories back.

_The Black Widow is not sentimental,_

The door bursted open, Madame B. entering with a few H.Y.D.R.A agents. The agents took James, he didn't resist, he knew better, but before he could leave he said six words. Six words that engraved themselves in Natasha's mind.

« If Fall ends, Winter is coming ».

_can't allow herself to be._

Madame B. got closer to Natasha, her eyes full of death starring deep in hers. And in a soft, fake voice she said. « Oh Natalia, when will you learn to follow the rules, » She raised Natasha's shirt and discovered the baby bump. She sighed, and gestured to the guards to take her.

« But don't hurt her, we need this baby alive and well, especially if it's a girl. » She had a disgusted look on her face, and natasha knew that if it was a boy. He'd die as soon as he'd be born.

No, they couldn't take her baby. She would never let that happen.

_And yet, no matter what cover she takes,_

Natasha was in labor, on an hospital bed, the room was filled with screams. Giving birth was a pain she had defenitly never experienced. She pushed, and pushed. And finally, cries were filling the room. The cries of a baby. The nurses left with the baby and came back a few minutes later.

_She insist on keeping her hair a shade of red._

Natasha was observing her daughter's features. She was carressing her cheek and when the baby shifted, trying to get closer to her mom in her sleep, Natasha fell even more in love with her.

« You'll start mission again next week, you can take the bratt with you if you want to » Madame B. stepped on the moment.

Natasha sent her a dark look, she wasn't fond of Madame calling her child like that.

« What would you like to call her Miss. » The doctor asked. Natasha thought for a second, and then gave a soft smile to her daughter. « Amelia. ».

_A dangerous habit for a spy to keep,_

Natasha had left for a mission a week later, with her daughter. Once in budapest, she had find that she was folowed.

She fought with a man, his name was Clint Barton and he came from S.H.I.E.L.D. He wanted to offer her a second chance, a chance to do better. 

He even met with Amelia.

_And one she can't always adhere to,_

She accepted.

_but._

But..

_Whenever it is possible,_

No matter what, she kept feeling like she had left something there. In the Red Room.

_her hair is red._

Something important.

_Like autumn._

Like a part of her... _  
_

_Like Fall._

_So that Winter may find her._


	2. ~PART ONE~

_**PART ONE : FORGED IN A HURRICANE.** _

'War may sometimes be a necssary evil, but no matter how necessary, it is always an evil. Never a good'

**It's like you told me**

**Go forward slowly**

**It's not a race to the end**

**Well you look like yourself**

**But you're somebody else**

**Only it ain't on the surface**

**Well you talk like yourself**

**No, i hear someone else thought**

Part one happens before Captain America : The Winter Soldier.

~'Life is tough, my darling. But so are you' ~

~'Tell me, what do you fear the most. The creature or it's creator ? **' ~**


	3. One.

_It's not that she's born brave._

**Third person P.O.V.**

The sun was slowly coming up. His lights entering the place, giving it a peaceful aura. Even if there was nothing peaceful in this place. A place where many girls have died. A place at the origin of all nightmares.

A place so beautiful and yet so ugly.

The walls of the Academy were alll made of marble but for one room. A room that most people found beautiful, but a room that the girls of the Academy despised.

A Ballet room.

Twenty-eights young girls.

The girls had been dancing for hours. Their feet were hurting them but they kept dancing. None of them able to stop the never ending dance.

None of them able to get out of the strings that tied them to this place. So they kept dancing, folowing their instructor orders.

« Again ! No. Arabesque. Attitude. Pas de biche. No ! Start again. » The shouting of the man pushing them to perfection. But in these twenty-eights girls, one of them was different.

Her dance was perfect.

« Perfect, Alaya ! Finaly a widow who knows Ballet. » Dimitri complimented her. But she didn't answer, she never did.

The girl just kept dancing, folowing the never ending melody. Letting her strings take her whenever she needed to.

The girl hadn't known anything but the Academy. She was born within these walls, had learn to walk within these walls. And she had learn to dance within these walls.

She was graceful, always smooth in her movement. Not even once letting her mask fall. Even when she fought with the other girls, it looked like she was dancing.

And yet, in this room full of girls no older than seven. She was the one that was the most entangled in her strings. Unable to break free.

Forced to keep dancing throught the melody.

The girl was an heir. Not to a throne nor a kingdom. But to a reputation. The girl's path was already writen and there was nothing she could do exept folow the dance. And hope to be saved.

She was suposed to take after a legacy of Black Widows. But she already had a name. A reputation she forged herself at her young years. She was the face behind a name, a name many people knew.

A name too many people whispered out of fear that, maybe, just maybe, she could hear them. A name that inspired fear in civilian and adoration in assassins.

A name. That was all. No one knew her face, for there were never any witnesses to describe the murderer.

A name that she feared herself.

The Red Swan.

Forged in blood and hurricanes. Created in a place at the origin of all nightmares.

The Red Swan was a known assassin. Everyone wondered who she was, no one ever tried to know. Not wanting to cross path with her.

But no one expected her to be a child.

Yet it was true. She couldn't deny it. Her hands were dripping with blood. Sticking on her feathers. Stopping her from flying away.

So she stayed. She kept on with her never lasting dance. Even in the middle of a huricane, her life's hurricane. Folowing the melody. Tightening the strings that kept her here, more and more.  
  



	4. Two.

_It's not that she's born strong._

« Accept the pain, embrace it, » Madame said as she took Alaya's head out of the bucket of cold water.

Alaya was shivering, her body was sore and her head pounding with pain. She had passed the last four hours locked in a room with Madame B.

Her body receiving cuts and bruises by thousands at a time. She was feeling like she could pass out at any moment, Madame dived her head in the water again.

She hadn't done anything wrong, yet Madame kept tying her to that chair. Day after day. No, she hadn't done anything wrong. But it was part of the Black Widow Program.

The Widows were suposed to be immuned to pain. To survive any torture.

There was only one way to get to that. It was pain. Pain and pain again.

So Madame kept tying her up to this chair, until one day she will support the pain.

Until one day she will be immuned to any torture. This day hasn't arrived.

« Only by accepting the pain, will you find your place in the world. » Madame softly voiced to the child.

Alaya couldn't breath properly, the shivers traveling in her body shaking her. She couldn't talk properly, the bruises on her face radiating a huge amount of pain to her face. She couldn't think properly, for one thing kept running circles in her mind.

' _Why me ?'_.

Why her ? It could have been anyone, it could have been any other girl. Yet Alaya was the one that had to live a life of misery in The Red Room Academy.

She could have lived many other life, yet it was this one the universe gave her.

Madame could have taken a liking on any other girl, yet and again, she have choosen her.

Being Madame's favorite is not an easy task. It's not like being a teacher's favorite. It's not like being your boss's favorite.

Madame B. embody the devil itself, and no one would ever want to be the devil's favorite pet.

Alaya was Madame's favorite pet, she directed her life. When does she get up, when does she eat, _if_ she eat, when does she train, when does she learn and when does she speak.

She had absolutely no power over herself.

And the further Madame went, the tighter got her strings. She now felt as if she could never escape. Her feathers tainted in an unbearable shade of red. It felt like it was the only thing she saw, red and nothing else.

« I have no place in the world. » Alaya painfully answered. It was what Madame expected her to answer, the only thing she _could_ answer. Really. As far as Alaya can remember from her short experience of life, Madame has always told her that.

She has no place in the world.

A cruel sentence that takes all of it meanings in the Red Room. Madame tells her Widows that they have no place in the world, make them believe it, make them understand it. Make them live their life by this very sentence.

If they have no place in the world, then why should they run. This is the only place they'll ever be accepted into.

It disgusted Alaya, she hated seing the little girls believing Madame's words.

But she never said anything. It's not that she wouldn't dare, she has. She dared for a long time to tell Madame how wrong she was. But it only got her into trouble, so at some point she gave up the fight, she let Madame believe that she broke her. And hoped for someone to come for her before she manage to really break into her very soul and tear her apart.

« Exactly. » Madame raised her hand to caress Alaya's cheek, sending a wave of pain in the girl's features.

No, it's not that she wouldn't dare, it's that she couldn't dare. Madame was the puppet master, and Alaya was living with strings attached to her whole self. Never could she ever rebel, just like a puppet don't rebel against his master.

In this world where there are lucky ones and unlucky ones. Alaya was most defenitely part of the unlucky ones. Yet when a Hydra soldier entered the room, stopping Madame from breaking any more bones, Alaya felt lucky. « Sorry for the interuption, » He told the woman, Madame didn't screamed at him, cut him off or showed her anger. For Madame too, had strings. Hydra was Madame's puppet Master. Alaya, even thought only seven years old, had understood a long time ago that everyone in here had a puppet Master. « Mr. Pierce demands a meeting. » He requested. It wasn't a question. It was never a question with Hydra. Madame looked at Alaya, disapointed that she couldn't keep 'training' her pet.

Madame didn't even sighed, enforcing Alaya's belief in Madame's fear of her Master's. Madame didn't say anything as she untied the seven years old and left.

Alaya tried to get up, but a shriek escaped her splited lips when she put her weight on her injured leg. She had a firm grip on the seat's armrest, and with a lot of pain, she managed to get up.

Every step consisting of an umbearable pain. Her head was pounding and her ears were ringing.

She could see the world turning in front of her eyes.

The child didn't realised she had passed out, not until she woke up. The sun was up, wich meant she had slept on the harsh, dirty floor of the torture room the whole night. Wich also meant that she was late.

She was late for Ballet.

She raised herself up from the ground, and rested against the nearest wall. Walking in the hallways of the academy, her back sliding against the walls, too weak to walk on her own. She arrived in the infirmary but, of course, there was no one.

It was okay thought, Alaya had learned to stitch herself up at a very young age. And while doing so, she thought about how useless that was. She was late for Ballet. So they would beat her up and she would pass the next three night in a cell.

But she still took care of her injuries, and then she took a cold shower. As the widows were not alowed to have warm water.

And when she was thrown in a cell, a few hours later, the same thought as the night before was running in her head. Never escaping it, like a never ending dance.

' _Why me ?'_


	5. Three.

_It's just that the universe decided,_

The cell was dirty, Alaya was covered in grime and blood. The only reason she had left this cell being Madame's torture or training with the other girls.

She was laid down on her back, on the harsh floor. The dust flying in the cell getting caught in her lungs.

She coughed the first time she was put in this cell, not anymore.

It was either a good thing or a bad thing ; she couldn't tell.

The only furniture in the tiny cell were a cot and a toilet. When she needed to shower a guard would bring in a bucket of water. That was all.

The cell was quite little.

Alaya didn't know how to measure, so she just figured we could fit two seven year old Alaya in it. There were spider web's everywhere, even thought she didn't see any of them.

She smiled throught her splitted lip. Even the spiders ran away from this place. She sighed. But rat didn't. She had found one last night when the guards brought her in. He slept with her.

She didn't really mind, and even if she did she couldn't have chased him. So instead she gave him a name, but she forgot it as soon as she thought of it honestly. It didn't matter since a guard stepped on him a few minutes ago, when they came in to beat her up.

Alaya was trying to sit up when the door to the hallway opened and Madame B. came in. That was odd, missing Ballet class is suposed to get Alaya three days in the dirty cell and a few beatings. And Madame only came down to get the childrens back upstairs. But Alaya was even more confused when a man came behind Madame.

He had long brown hair and was very muscular. A muzzle was covering half his face and he had a metal arm.

By now she was tottaly sit up on the ground, trying to hide her fear of what was going to happen like Madame taught her to.

She didn't have any idea of who he was.

But he did, he knew exactly who she was. Hydra tried to wipe him many times. In hope that maybe he'd forget about the pregnancy. About the child. He couldn't, his mind refused to let the memory of his baby get wiped like some bug on a windshield.

He forgot the woman who carried the child thought. Exept for six words, six words he couldn't decipher nor forget. Six words he know she once told him.

When Fall end, Winter is coming.

They only came as a whisper, always a whisper. And he couldn't remember what they meant. He figured the mother had disapeared or died so it didn't matter that much. Hydra gave up trying to take the child out of his brain at some point, scared that too much erasing would be wrong for his brain. They had put too much time creating him, the perfect weapon, to screw everything up because of a stupid kid. So Mr. Pierce asked for a meeting with Madame, asking to reset the asset in his instructor place so he could 'Finally forget about the bratt and move on'.

Madame stopped in the middle of the hallway. He looked at her confused and she just shrugged. « I found this cell too dirty for my liking, I'll let you keep going on your own ». The asset couldn't help but feel disgust of the woman, she wouldn't set a foot in that cell but she put a child there. How hypocrite.

The asset turned around when she left and immediatly saw her, her red hair acting like a trafic sign in the middle of the night.

She wasn't scared, or at least she didn't looked scared. Her eyes were hard, and she looked injured. She was now sat on her cot and was waiting for him.

He walked until he was standing in front of the cell, and with one look to the little girl all his walls fell down. She had a piercing look that he was familiar with.

He didn't knew what to say to her, he had been wanting to see her for so long. Dreaming of the day he would meet his child, but he had no idea what to tell her. Even less gain her trust.

He asked a soldier to open the cell's door and walked inside, he was at least a metter away from her.

Her head was tilted down but not enough so she could look at him in the eyes. She was waiting for him to atack, her body was tense and she had that determination in her gaze that he remember seing in a woman before.

But he don't know who the woman is. He can't seem to remember.

He kept thinking, while looking into his daughter's eyes. None of them breaking the gazing contest.

Most people were terified when they saw him. Even if they didn't knew that he was the man behind the winter soldier. People were scared of him. But not the girl in front of him. She was calm and smooth. Not the least intimidated.

He wasn't wrong. But he wasn't right. Alaya wasn't scared, she was preparing herself to fight in case he attacked.

All the while a statement kept repeating itself in her mind.

If he beat me I won't survive.

_If he beat me I won't survive._

The soldier took a step closer, Alaya didn't move. He took another one, and now that he was fully in front of her. He could see all the cuts and bruises covering her face an body. He raised his flesh hand, slowly and calmly. Making sure not to startle her. And he gently let his hand slide in the little girl's hair.

Alaya was calming down, finding that the man in front of her wasn't an immediate danger. She let him as he watched her in awe.

She was surprised when he talked to her. She had heard him talk to the soldier with a harsh and violent tone, when he talked to her softly. Almost as if he was scared to break her by speaking too loud.

« You know who I am ? » She nodded. She hadn't recognized him at first, but when he got closer his metal arm gave him up.

« You're the winter soldier. » She answered in a cold tone. He didn't seem to apreciate her answer, as he frowned. He raised his hand and played with her hair, unable to stop himself from touching her as he'd been longing for too long.

« I'm your father. » He said quickly, looking anywhere but at her. He found that he could have anounced it in a better way, but he wasn't good with human interacction.

She didn't say a thing, trying to wrap her head around it. Keeping her mask up, always and forever. She was pretty sure that he wasn't lying, her training was far from over but she was good at reading people's features.

She, honestly, had no idea how to react to such a news.

What was he expecting from her ?

The seven year old never had any relationship ever, not one consisting of people caring about each other at least. The only thing close to affection she'd get would be when Madame B congratulates her by carressing her cheek.

She kept thinking, and then he looked at her. He was wearing a worried expression, terified that she might run away or that she didn't want to know.

She smiled, it wasn't destined to him. She had just realised that the scary winter soldier was actually a teddy bear.

But then she looked at him in the eyes, and she realised that this smile had relaxed him. So she kept smiling, chosing this gesture as an answer.

He got up and sat down on the cot with her, his weight pushing the fragile furniture down on his side.

She grinned as he panicked, scared that he might have broken it.

And when he sat on the floor, sending a glare at the tiny cot as if the innanimated object had stopped him from sitting next to his daughter, she giggled.

It felt good, she hadn't expressed any happiness whatsoever since a long time. Like if finaly showing an emotion was releasing her from a weight in her chest.

The Winter Soldier was wearing a smug face as he noticed what he had just done. Wich only got him a glare from the seven years old.

Alaya thought for a second.

« Will you stay ? At the academy. » She hesitantly asked him, a little scared he'd go away as fast as he came.

She let out a breath as he nodded.

« I'm not leaving. » Those few words warmed her heart, and she didn't knew what to think when a second later she noticed she didn't want him to leave. She didn't knew what to think when she noticed she already cared about him.

And when she went to sleep that night, with a Super Soldier sleeping on the floor next to her because he wanted to keep an eye on her, she didn't asked herself the question she, Oh, so often asked.

She didn't asked herself _'Why me ?'._

She knew he would leave, because he too had strings, but she hoped they could get to know each other before that would happen.

And she didn't ask herself any question as she heard him say in the dark of night « Moya devushka ». _My Daughter._


	6. Four.

_that one will have_ _gritt_ _and fire,_

Alaya was on the roof, watching the stars. She had been released from her cell a few hours ago.

When Madame came to get her, as usual, she was undressed and thrown into a shower. Two guards grabbed water jets and went to clean her with it. Alaya got curled up in a ball as she knews that the widows weren't allowed to have warm water. The little girl could feel her body sting when the freezing water colided with her injured skin. The guards then sprayed her with some soap and cleaned her at the water jet again.

She had then been dragged to class, and even thought the day had been exhausting. She couldn't sleep.

She couldn't shake the feeling her father had instored in her, as a widow she had been trained to run away from love. And the man she met just yesterday was full of love, and the worse is to come, she wanted to love him back.

She almost laughed at how stupid that was, _love is for children._

Alaya knew it. From the very day she was born, the very day the Red Room took her from her crib. She was no longer a daughter, no longer a girl who would live with dreams and hope. She was a weapon. And weapons don't love, weapons kill.

Alaya was created by the Red Room, raised and brainwashed to their will, she hates them but never will she desobei them. She tried when she was younger, her reward was some painful months in this very cell.

Alaya doesn't know if she's happy, she doesn't know if she's sad. She has never known anything else, maybe did they broke her ? She claims to have stayed intact, but is she ? How could she know. If she is, indeed, broken. It surely is the only thing she ever knew. And maybe she just learned not to feel it, maybe it is easier if she doesn't know happiness or love. That way she can not fall deeper.

But the truth is. If brokenness was a piece of art, surely the seven years old would be a masterpiece.

The door leading to the roof opened, making the little girl jump. The asset sat next to her, watching the stars without a word.

She watched as he seemed so free, far from his masters.

« Who was my mother ? » She asked him, after a few minutes of silence. He frowned and turned his head to look at her. She was really beautiful, her red fiercy hair crashing into her face as the wind of autumn came and went. She was still in her class uniform. She had a red skirt and a white shirt was stuck inside it. Long white socks raised to her knees and red clapper shoes at her feet.

« I'm not quite sure, Hydra whipped me so many times that I only remember a sentence. » He sadly told the child, Alaya nodded. So many question wandered inside her head.

What was the sentence ?

Did she had any sibblings ?

Why did she ended up in the Red Room ?

She finaly asked.

« What was the sentence ? » He smiled, a nostalgic smile. Like if it remembered him of so many good memories, like if everything he ever loved was contained in this simple sentence.

« If Fall ends, Winter is coming »

What did it mean ? Alaya couldn't know. She imagined 'Winter is coming' was a reference to her father. But what did it _mean ?_

So she kept asking questions.

« Do I have sibblings ? » Did she ? Was there anyone waiting for her outside of this place ? Someone who would accept her ? Love her ? She doubted it, having the Soldier with her was already a miracle. She knew the answer when she saw the look on her father's face.

He didn't know.

She knew he wouldn't answer, ashamed. Ashamed that, if he did have another child, he didn't knew.

He sighed, deep in thoughts.

« What are you thinking about » She asked him, wondering where came from the sad look on the Soldier's features.

He was surprised by the child question. Could he tell her ? Could he tell her he kept doubting ? He wasn't sure if he could be a good father, a murderer is usualy a bad exemple. But as he watched the girl, he knew it was too late for exemple. As he remembered where she was growing up, he knew it was already screwed up.

« I'm not sure if i'll be a good parent. I'm the Winter Soldier, Alaya. I stopped being a human a long time ago. » Alaya didn't respond, not for a few minutes. She knew the feeling he had right now, she had killed many people. But she never felt any guilt. She had wondered for a long time why was she okay with it.

_Did she had a heart ?_

Did she had any ounce of humanity in her.

She hadn't found the answer until now, because while looking at her father asking himself the same question a she did, she knew they were perfectly human.

« What is 'human' ? » She asked him rhetorically. « Is it an ability to reason ? To imagine ? To love or grieve ? » She said, lost deep in thoughts. « If so. We are more human than any human will ever be. » And he smiled at her philosophy, he loved her. He loved the little girl so much. He wanted to stay close to her forever, never letting her entangle in her strings any more. But he couldn't. He had to get out of his own strings to help her, and that would be hard.

And after that, the both of them would join on the roof every nights. And since her father didn't have any memories about his life before Hydra and that Alaya hadn't a lot of happy memories to tell, they would invent stories. They would imagine how life would be if the two of them had a normal life, how school would be for Alaya and were the asset would work.

The day they were prisoners of theirs strings. But at night, on that roof, both of them would break free for a few hours.

And even if they were still in prison, they wre so happy to finnaly have each other. They were so happy to have someone to walk the road with.  
  


Alaya was currently in the Red Room yard, one of her classmate in front of her. Twenty six girls surounding them in a circle, Madame and the asset watching from outside.

The two widows were about to fight to death.

Alaya and her classmate saluted each other, and got into fighting position. Alaya hated it, fighting her classmates was different than killing a target. She lived with these girls, she knew them. She knew their fear, she knew their skills and who they were. The girl in front of her didn't deserve to die, none of them ever did. Yet every time she killed them, and today would be no difference. Because The Red Swan never fail, because she isn't the master of herself. She just folow where the strings lead her, and today the strings lead her to her classmate's death.

The girl attacked first, throwing a punch to Alaya. A punch that she easily avoided, twisting her wrist and pinning her to the ground. But the girl wasn't going to let her kill her so easily, she closed her thights around Alaya's head and throw her weight behind her in a way that would make Alaya fall. Once on the ground, her classmate climbed on her and tried to strangle her. Alaya grabbed her forarm and broke it. The girl's screams could be heard in the whole facility, Alaya got up and went behind her putting her in a headlock.

She looked over at Madame, and Madame nodded.

And just like that, she snapped the girl's neck.

That night, when her and the asset joined on the roof she asked him a question that took him by surpise.

« Papa, do I have a heart ? » He seemed confused.

« Of course you have a heart, » He answered. « It's a very important muscle, without it you would die. »

Alaya giggled at his answer.

« No, I mean. _Do I have a heart ?_ Sometimes when someone do a bad thing, people say they don't have a heart. Do I have a heart ? »

He thought of it for a second, and then he answered her with a smile.

« Do you feel it beating really hard when you're about to fight ? To kill ? Or when Madame ask you in the torture room ? » She nodded. « Well then you have a heart, it beat like a drum when you're about to do something you don't like, or something that hurt » She smiled, but she wasn't satisfied by his answer.  
  


« One, two, three, four. Pas de bourre. Put your arm higher. And one, two, three, four. » Alaya was dancing, a piano playing in the background and her instructor directing her move. « That's perfect, Let's start again. One, two, three, four. That's it. »

Alaya hated this place, and she hated her instructor. But there was something comforting about Ballet, it's a tragic dance but at the same time so beautiful.

Alaya have noticed that the most tragic things are the most beautiful, like a storie full of wonder and magic but at the same time filled with pain and suffering. Ballet was like a tale, a tragic one, that no one has the courage to voice. They tell it, instead, with moves so beautiful and well calculated that it show how much the story they are telling is full of sadness.

Alaya wondered, if she could ever find a tale to dance.

A tale as tragic and full of wonder.  
  



	7. Five.

_And steer in her own blood._

There wasn't anything good about the Red Room. But there was definitly worse than the academy, and Alaya knew it. Hydra for an exemple, was the master of all pain and suffering ever inflicted. They controled it at perfection, they knew how to play with someone's fear. And Alaya knew that, even with her training, never could she ever fight their manipulation. After all she was just a seven year old.

That's why, when she heard Madame and Mr. Pierce arguing about a very particular subject, herself, she couldn't restrain the fear that settled in her stomach.

« You can't take away our best Asset ! » Mr. Pierce was the one playing with Madame's strings, he was the one that mastered her. Yet she couldn't keep her calm when he informed her of his decision. « She's the best widow we've had since Natalia Romanova. » At Madame's words, Alaya felt a pride that disgusted her.

She hated that her brainwash made her proud. She hated that she _wanted_ to kill. That she _wanted_ to make Madame proud or that she _did not_ want to run. She hated that even throught the suffering they made her go throught, she still wanted to stay. Because she was programed like that.

« The Assset's lab is our property, as well as this academy. » Mr. Pierce answered her in a low, snappy tone. Leaving no room for an answer. « She will leave soon and start mission with the Asset. » Alaya wasn't phased that he called her his property. She had been used to it from a young age, among many other things.

What phased her, was her soon to be travel to a Hydra base with her Papa. What phased her was the monsters she was about to come face to face with. What phased her was that she would finaly leave this hell, only to go in hell's hell. She was leaving for much worse. And she needed to talk to her Papa about it.

So when they met on the roof that night, she told him all about the discussion she heard. And as well as he was trying to hide it, he seemed like he was about to explode.

Not his daughter, they couldn't bring his daughter in this, Oh, so ugly place. Not his little girl. He wouldn't bear it. Never. She was just a child and they wanted to take her to face atrocity that even the devil that embodied Madame would break in front of.

Still he kept his calm, he kept his calm because even in the alarming situation that he was in, he didn't wanted to scare his daughter. He wanted to protect her from the reality of things for one more night. Just one more night.

So he put his metal arm around his little girl's waist and pressed her close to him. Stroking her hair with his flesh one. And whispering in her ear quietly.

« It's okay, i'll be there. Nothing will happen to you as long as i'm there. » And even if both of them knew he was lying, those words comforted not only the seven year old but also the father. Who was calming down, holding the thin, but impressingly muscular, child in his arms. Safe from the outside world for one last night.

And as her father was holding her, Alaya asked herself a question she hadn't asked since she first met the Asset.

' _Why me ?'_

And as expected, the next day, two Hydra soldier bursted in her room. Grabbing her by her elbows and lifting her off the ground. Walking her outside, the cold air of the Russian winter coliding with her face as she aproached a truck.

The two soldier shoved her in a cage in the bottom of the truck, made for animals but used for humans. And a few minutes later, her Papa walked in. He sat on the bench attached to the truck and looked over to his little girl. Treated like a vulgar animal, his fist clenched and his gaze darkened with rage. He glared at Mr. Pierce, who just sent him a proud smile. Content with himself, that he now had a new Asset to use, but also the old one at his feet.

The trip lasted hours, until the hours turned into days.

Alaya was allowed to get out of her cage only to go to the toilet. They opened the cage door to give her food a few times a day, but not for too long. A few seconds, just the time to throw a sandwich and a water bottle in her head.

At some moment, a moment where she had been authorized out of her cage to go pee in the woods. Of course watched by a soldier. Mr. Pierce grabbed her arm on the way back, notifying the soldier to take his leave, and threw her against a nearby tree. He grabbed her chin in between his hand. And spit on her.

Alaya didn't question as to why he did this, she knew bad people did bad things without reason. So she stayed still. Unphased by his violence, for she handled much worse during Madame's torture sessions.

« Tell me, slut. How does it feel to know youre mine ? » She didn't answer. She knew that if she told him how she truly felt, he would either get angry or sickenly happy. But there was no way she would lie and tell him what he was expecting her to say, that she was happy about it. In front of her silence he tightened his grip on her chin. « How does it feel to know I control you, that I could order your death right now, right here. » He was wearing a genuine smile. Truly happy that he had gained a new toy to play with.

He finaly let go of her chin. He grinned and gave her a tissue to clean herself. And before leaving, he placed a kiss on her cheek.

It made her sick to her stomach, she rubbed the tissue on the spot he placed his kiss on. She rubbed and rubbed. 

She truly hated that man.

The rest of the drive wasn't long, they soon arrived to an underground base. And just like when she left the academy, the soldier took her by her elbows and lifted her.

They travelled down the many hallways of the base and stopped in front of a gate, the gate of a cell. The cell was quite alike with the one she spent many nights in at the academy, tiny and dirty. The two soldier shoved her in the cell and locked the door behind them, Alaya's face colided with the harsh cement of the floor and she felt a familiar sting on her cjeek as she sat down. Her back ached from the very unpleasant position she had had in the truck's cage and her ankle was twisted, god know's how that happened.

Alaya crawled to the wall and rested on it, as there was no cot in thsi tiny cell. Honestly, there was nothing in this tiny cell.

The seven years old was tired from the trip and, even if she knew she shouldn't, she fell asleep on the cold floor of her cell.

She was awoken by a bucket of freezing water being thrown on her sleeping form. The shock immediatly waking her to a maximum.

The soldier didn't talked to her or took her anywhere, he just woke her up and left the cell. 

And she knew what they were doing, they were trying to break her. Deprive her from sleep so she would give up.

She wouldn't, not that easily.

And while she sat on the cold, harsh floor, of her new home. Alaya couldn't help but tell herself that, maybe, just maybe, someone would save her.


	8. Six.

_She'll face trial after trial,_

Two years.

Alaya was running through the streets of London, the rain pouring in her hair and her feet splashing in a puddle. She had just succeeded her tenth mission, but her target had made the task a little less easy for her as his bodyguard were chasing her right now.

After arriving in Hydra, the nine years old had been tested to her limits by the guards. She had survived it with scars all over her back. From the whip. And also the kives. When they decided she would be a good asset, they gave her a mission. And then another, and on and on.

But something was bugging Alaya, the discussion she had heard between Mr. Pierce and the Madame. They said she would start mission with the asset, which meant her father. But she hadn't seen him since they got off the truck two years ago.

To say she missed him was an understatement, she craved him. She longed for her Papa, for his hugs and theirs stupids talk. She was truly, utterly scared to never see him again.

And as she ran into a dead end, the bodyguards coming behind her, she thought about every possibilities.

Maybe they're prepping him ? No, not for two years.

Maybe he's gone on a big mission and they'll start mission when he comes back ? Unlikely.

Maybe they changed their minds ? Most likely.

Three bodyguards were surrounding her, two had been lost in the run and one she killed when she took out the target.

First one attacked, she turned her body to the right and he fell to the ground. She snapped his neck.

The second and third one attacked, she grabbed the second one's colar and used him as a shield when the third one tried to shoot her. He fell to the ground, dead. She looked up to the last bodyguard, not letting him a chance to escape, and she ran to him. She was a shadow, he almost couldn't see her. She sliced his throat easily.

The Red Swan never left any witnesses.

**☂ ☪ ☮**

Good job.

That's what Mr. Pierce always told her. Every time he did she felt dirty, the kind of dirty you can't wash with a shower. He always had this smirk that made her uncomfortable, like he loved seeing blood on her. Like he loved seeing her kill people.

And Alaya, she felt like a monsters. All the take out she's done since a very young age, she felt something she never felt before.

Was this guilt ?

She didn't want to hurt anyone, why did she have to ?

Why did she had to kill, why did a nine years old had to do this ? Alaya felt hurt, betrayed by her Papa who promised her everything would be alright. She knew he lied, but she hoped for him to save her. She was scared, what would she become ? She already had killed so many people.

No, she didn't feel like a monster. She _was_ a monster. She was the monster under the bed, the one you hide. The one that scare even grown up's, she used to be so proud of being The Red Swan. But now, she envied the girls who didn't made it at the academy. The ones who didn't have to deal with the burden that is a conscious.

Once in her cell, tears swelled up in her eyes.

She didn't want to be a monster.

She wanted to be a ballerina, to dance and feel at peace like she did in Ballet classes at the academy. She wanted to be happy. She wanted her Papa to hug her. She wanted both of them to have this life they had imaginated.

She felt like asking too much.

And as she fought back the tears, she noticed how her heart felt like it was breaking, and filling up with darkness. She knew it, no longer would she be an innocent girl. She was darkness and she would always be.

They had won, Hydra had broke her.

A soldier entered the cell, finding a sleeping Alaya on the harsh cement floor. He violently grabbed her, a shriek escaping the girl's lips. He smiled, they all hated her so much. And she couldn't understand why. He guided her into what looked like a shower, a chair in the middle of the room.

He sat her on it and Mr. Pierce entered, Rumlow on his tail. A devilish smile taking all his face.

« Alaya. I wanted to give you proof that you belong to me, » The man sickenly told the child, she hadn't done anything wrong. He just wanted to make sure she knew it, he always did. He had took a liking on proving the child she was his, mark her with tinplate, make her sleep in the cold winter of Russia or even grab her ass when she walks by. « and since you are mine. I can do whatever I want with you, » He walked closer, so close she could feel his breathing on her face. « starting with your hair. » He gestured to Rumlow, the black haired man took the electric shaver and turned it on.

They were going to shave her head.

Rumlow turned around Alaya and once behind her, grabbed her neck. He didn't waste any time and immediately started shaving. She could feel the breeze on her naked head. She could feel the long, ginger curls fall to her side.

And as they took her hair away, Alaya thought about the sentence Madame would Always tell her. Making sure it imprinted in her head.

_'life is tough my darling, but so are you.'_

She felt tears swelling up in her eyes, again. But this time she couldn't fight them back. She was sick of them treating her like their possession. She couldn't bear the look in Mr. Pierce eyes, the smile that illuminated his face when the first tears made their way down her cheek.

No, she wasn't tough.

She wasn't tough enough to face this life.

That's when she understood something else. She is, indeed, a monster. But she is their monster. She cannot escape, she cannot fight. She cannot as well as live without their consent. She's a murderer, nothing else. Not a daughter. Not a living, breathing being with dreams and hopes. She is a weapon, their weapon.

She is not Alaya.

She is The Red Swan.


	9. Seven.

_Be broken and damaged,_

Three years.

Rumlow had a firm grip on Alaya's wrist as he shoved her in a cell. She felt her gunshot wound re-open when it took a hit on the floor. She groaned, her body was now almost fully covered with scars. Hydra had made sure to keep the places she'll have to show in infiltration unhurt. The rest was cut, shot, punched, broken and many other things.

Her hair were shaved every three months by Rumlow, an order by Mr. Pierce. In infilration, she would have to wear a wig. It was their way of showing her she wasn't master of her own body.

She sat on the ground, as she noticed that the cell on her right was occupied. A boy, her age. She looked at him, and he looked at her. He seemed shocked, and she couldn't tell why. He was also hurt, his leg was bleeding. It seemed he was one of the experiment.

Hydra was trying to create people with powers. He had an electric colar, and his hands were restrained.

The boy got up, limping as he got closer to the gate separating them.

« Alaya ? » He asked, hope in his voice and his face lighting up.

She had no idea how the boy knew her name but she answered noneless.

« How do you know my name ? » His hopeful face faded, he was disappointed. She didn't knew who he was, and while he was having an inner battle she was just shooting him a half-curious half-annoyed look. He scratched the back of his neck and cleared his throat. « Right, um..Sorry. » He frowned and looked her in the eyes. « I'm Calum, um, i'm your twin brother. »

Shock.

That's the only word to describe the girl's feelings.

**☂ ☪ ☮**

Alaya was sitting against the gate that separated her from Calum's cell. He was in the same position on his side of the grill.

Her and her new found brother had been talking for about a half an hour. He had explained to the girl that his collar was used to restrain him from escaping. He was, as she thought, one of Hydra's experiment.

Alaya figured the asset Mr. Pierce was talking about was Calum. She was, on the other hand, wondering how he had knew about her. Her Papa didn't knew about him, so he's not the one who told him.

« The Hydra soldier, » He simply answered when she asked, she was confused so he kept talking. « they were laughing, telling me I had a family that I would never meet. That I would stay here forever. » Calum had a sad expression, all the times the guards would remind him he would never know his sister playing in his head.

Alaya didn't answer, there was nothing to answer. Nothing she could think of, she didn't knew what to do. She hadn't been raised to show affection or be sorry. She just extended her arm through the bars of the gate and wrapped her hand around her brother's. She could feel him smile at the touch, wich made her smile too.

Suddenly, Alaya had a question in mind. A question she asked in the Red Room but never got an answer to. « Do you know what our birthday is ? » It looked pathetic, and she almost crawled out of Calum's grip and hide in a dark place of her cell out of shame when he shot her an apologetic smile.

Shame of asking, shame of not knowing.

But he took upon himself and tightened his grip on the girl to make sure she'd stay.

« January tenth, nineteen ninety-nine. » When Alaya had asked what was her birthdate in the Red Room she simply got as an answer that she was six years old. And in order to change it every year without knowing the date, she would turn older at the new year. But her being six years old when Madame said it meant she was born on year two thousand, she had just discovered she was a whole year older than she thought.

« I'm eleven years old ? » If she felt ashamed before, she now definitely wanted to hide in a hole and never get out.

« It's okay, » Calum said as he brushed his thumb against her palm. « I didn't knew before last year, it's thanks to Rumlow really. I got beat up by him, he said it was my birthday gift. » The genuine smile that crossed Calum's face broke Alaya's heart. He was truly happy, happy to know his birthday. He wasn't outraged, he wasn't sad or ashamed. He was happy.

Since she got into Hydra, Alaya started understanding so many things. How she wasn't and would never be free. How she was a monster by their fault. And now how her and her new found brother were totally messed up. Being happy about being together when it should be a normality. Being happy about knowing his birthday in exchange of a beat up.

That was messed up.

And the fact that Hydra wanted him to come with her in mission when he was absolutely not trained to was also totally messed up. Even with the ability to travel through shadow he received thanks to the experimentation, he wouldn't survive two hours outside these doors.

« Hey Alaya ? » Calum called. « Are you scared of death ? » He had a nostalgic smile, like he had something he found beautiful in mind. He had that smile she had when she did Ballet.

« Not anymore, » She answered. « I accepted death was part of my daily job a while ago. » He gripped her hand, showing her how he agreed.

« There's this tale, the only one I know really, that a guard once told me. It's very beautiful. » He looked at her for approval, and continued talking when she smiled. « It says that death and life have been in love, for longer than we have words to describe. » His eyes flickered when a noise came to him. But he continued. « life sent countless gifts to death, and death kept them forever. »

« That guard could've told you a Disney story, » He laughed, when really he had no idea what Disney was. « I learned many stuff about poetry in the academy. » She continued. « A lot of poems are actually about death, would you like to hear one ? » He sent her a look that clearly said 'shoot'.

« Death asked life 'Why do people love you but hate me ?' Life replied 'Because I am a beautiful lie when you are a painful truth' » Calum rested his head on one of the bars.

« It's beautiful. »

She looked at him, and noticed how look-a-like they were. They both had ginger hair, the exact same color. Freckles, at the same places. Eyes a mixture of blue and green.

A skin as pale as snow.

Alaya had studied about this at the academy, people with ginger hair have a white creamy skin that cannot tan even with hours on the sun. It is also very likely for them to have sunburn, some have the faculty to never burn at all. Alaya was one of those, she wondered if it was the same for her brother.

Probably not, he has never seen the light of day in his whole life. She kept looking, searching for fighting qualities.

He had a weak body, clearly he hadn't had a good meal in a long time. His eyes screamed sleep deprivation and he was injured everywhere possible.

She needed to train him before they had their first mission.

She taped his shoulder and he turned his gaze to her.

« I'll train you before we go on mission, » He nodded excitedly. He wasn't stupid, he knew his powers wouldn't help him out of danger most of the time. « like that you'll be prepared. »

The rest of the day was used by Alaya to train Calum a minimum. The next one too, and the day after that was used for that too. The guards hadn't came a lot, except to give them food and water. They had gave to Calum more than usual and Alaya figured they wanted to get him in shape for their next mission.

Their mission would be three month later, and Alaya took all the time they gave her to train the gifted boy through the bars.

The more time passed, the closer the two siblings got. Just like Alaya with her Papa at the academy, but this time she was sure he wouldn't leave her. She knew they would be together from now on, that no one could ever separate them.

Alaya couldn't escape her strings, but she could, at least, learn to her brother how to survive it a minimum.

And they knew, everytime they looked at each other, that one day they would be free.


	10. Eight.

_In countless ways._

Four years.

Screams.

That's all Alaya could hear. Who's screams were they ? Hers.

A month ago her and her brother had been brought in to America. They were currently in New York, Rumlow had taken his place in Shield back and the twins had been brought to Baron Wolfgang von Strucker. He was now their guardian.

He was more caring than Rumlow. Of course he still saw them as weapons, but he had this philosophy that weapons should be taken care of. He had given the two twelve years old clean cell's and three meals a day. Heaven for the two childs.

But for some reason, he had decided Alaya would become an experiment too. That's how she ended strapped to this experiment table, screaming. Begging for them to stop. They had injected her with a product, and this product was burning her whole insides. It was more painful than the acids Madame tortured her with, more painful than any cuts or bruises Rumlow gave her. It felt like they had loosen up hell in her veins.

« Shh, Shh. Calm down little swan, » Strucker said as his hand slid down her cheek, little swan was his new nickname for her. He wouldn't call her Alaya or asset, for he knew she hated the nicknames. « the pain will leave soon and be replaced with something else. » A sickening smirk took place on his face. « Whether its death or power is your choice, little swan. »

It was just an experiments. They didn't knew if it would work, what she would be gifted if it succeeded.

But Alaya knew, she knew exactly what she was gifted with. She could see it.

The futur.

The past.

Even present.

She was gifted with visions. She could feel it poor in her head. From what will or have ever happened, to what is happening at this very moment. But it was just a blur, she knew everything was in her head but she couldn't see it or understand it properly. Like if it was locked, that she would see it only at the right time.

But she would never, ever tell them the experimentation had worked. If she would have to keep being strapped to this table again and again screaming until it killed her, so be it. But she would never let them use such a power. She already felt sick to have to kill for them, she refused to let them win.

And as she was shoved in her cell, entirely made of glass and soundproof. She felt a vision come in. She couldn't tell how she knew, she just felt like it was that. And it also confirmed her theory as to what the vision would come in when they were needed.

_She saw a red haired woman, bangs hiding her forehead. The woman was walking through the hallways of the red room. A place Alaya could recognize anytime. The woman entered a room, and inside was the room was._

_Wait._

_Was it..._

_...her Papa ?_

_He was looking at the sky, sitting on his window his back facing the red hair. She made her way to him slowly and making sure he wouldn't see him coming._

_Was she gonna attack him ?_

_But to Alaya's surprise she wrapped her arms around his waist, straddling him. He turned around and a smile spread across his face, and they kissed. Even though Alaya wasn't really there, and that she was aware that her father wasn't a virgin. She was not thrilled to see this. He placed his hand on her stomach, where Alaya discovered a baby bump._

_Could this woman be her mother ?_

_Her father smiled, breaking the kiss._

_« We should choose a name. » He said eyes full of love for the red hair. « If it's a girl Amelia. » The woman immediately burst out laughing._

_He defend himself, claiming that it was a great name._

_The woman respond that she is never naming her daughter Amelia, telling him to choose something else._

_That's when she hears him say. « And why not Alaya. » The twelves years old take in a shaky breath, she was watching her two parents._

_Her mother smiled and told him it was better._

_« And if it's a boy we'll call him Calum, »_

The vision stopped here.

Alaya was still her back to the ground, she looked around. Scared that maybe she acted strange, scared that they'll discover her power. She told Calum about it, their cell were next to each other and made of glass. They would often talk through morse code.

She turned around and saw that he had entered his cell, she waited for him to look at her and when he did she immediately put her hand to the ground. Starting the movement.

The conversation was short, as the guards knew morse language. They would never talk for more than three minutes simultaneously afraid that a guard might understand.

Later, when the guards had cleared the room where the two cell's where contained. Alaya turned to her brother. She continued telling him about what she had seen.

'What did the red hair look like ?' He asked once she had finished.

'She had bangs, green eyes and plump lips,' She stopped when a guard passed in to take a look, making sure they're not trying to escape. Once he was out of view, she looked back at Calum. 'She's a widow.' He nodded. Not answering, trying to wrap his head around what she had told him.

Of course they knew they had a mother, but seeing the images made it all real. And it made Alaya so angry, she knew she had been abandoned. She never wanted to think about it though, she didn't want to feel any more rage than she already did. But she now had to face it, she hated that red haired woman. She felt so much anger only to think that she had abandoned them.

No. No, that's not right.

She couldn't care less about herself. She was raging that she had abandoned Calum.

Alaya saw herself as a monster, she couldn't care less that she had been left behind. But she felt murderous thinking about everything that happened to Calum.

On his side of the glass, Calum had went through the same scheme of thoughts. He felt so angry that Alaya had been left behind, he swore to himself. He swore on everything that couted. If he ever met his mother, he would kill her.

Alaya then got his attention back on her, as she was gesturing through the glass. She put her hands on the ground and he understood she wanted to keep talking. But her question surprised him.

'Do you think were monsters ?' He opened his mouth multiple times to talk, but he didn't knew what to say. He wanted to tell her that no, they weren't monsters. But he didn't want to lie to his sister. If they ever looked at the definition of the word monster, they would find that they are in fact monsters.

Instead he rummaged through his young brain, he knew a way to calm her thoughts. Alaya loved poetry, she found that it was incredibly beautiful how a quote could enter your soul and touch you the way no action can. Any time she felt down, she would tell herself a quote, that she read or imagined. And since they had arrived here, Strucker had authorized the two children to read books. Calum had chosen to catch up on his education, but he also took a few books on poetry. Just to make sure he could always calm her down.

He looked her in the eyes. And remembered a line he saw in one of those books, one that fitted perfectly with the situation. So he put his hand on the ground and started writing in morse code, something his sister had learned him when she trained him for their first mission.

'Tell me, What do you fear the most. The creature or its creator ?'

A smile made its way up Alaya's face. She was happy he remembered, the quote immediately imprinting in her head. They both separated when a guard came in again, sitting on a chair to watch them both for the rest of the night.

Alaya went to sleep, hatred to her mother taking its place in her heart. But love also, for Calum. And her Papa. She missed him so much, she wished he was here. She wished she could hug him or talk to him. She wished he could meet Calum, his son. But she couldn't, she glanced at her brother. And fell in a dreamless sleep.

Calum, too, had a hatred for his mother settling in his chest. Craving for revenge, craving to hurt the person who did this to them.

He swore it. One day he's going to kill his mother.


	11. Nine.

But this one.

Five years.

Alaya had grown accustomed to her power. She discovered it was far more powerful than just vision, she could control everything when it came to time. It was just a theory for now but she was pretty sure she could travel through time. She figured she had gained all those powers because of all the time she passed on the experiment table after having gained visions. Since she refused to tell the scientist it worked, they kept on injecting her with new products. She still had to deepen her practice to discover what she can really do. But she was scared that Strucker would find out, she had managed to hide it from them as much as she could, but she knew they would eventually find out.

Calum too, had deepened his practice with the help of the scientists. He discovered he could control shadow, not only travel through it. He could make someone blind or take out every light at a certain distance from him.

The now thirteen years old twins were getting know in the middle of assassination. The duo everyone feared. For it wasn't only The Red Swan now. The Shadow Of Death was her companion. The both of them were practically legends now. Yet they didn't felt like legends.

Legends weren't living in cages. Legends weren't experimented on. Legends weren't feared. No, they were called legends. The reality wasn't as beautiful.

They were nightmares.

They were hiding in the shadows, waiting for midnight to ring. Then they would release hell on earth, killing and torturing. Spying and infiltrating. The only sound echoing being screams. Everywhere they went there was only screams. The only thing they would ever hear, really. Their own when they were being experimented on and others when they were unleashed in the night.

Shield was after them.

After the battle of New York they were very cautious as to keep the population calm and restrained. And two murderers on the run weren't getting them to their goal. But they couldn't find them. Never. First of all because the two twins were very cautious as to never let any hint on who they are, they knew better. And second of all because Shield had no idea if they were part of the red room or something else. They didn't suspect Hydra as they didn't knew about it. But they suspected the red room, which will not fail to make Madame angry.

It was sure they would suspect it, since The Red Raven got known in russia first.

Rumlow would often come to Strucker to give him news about Shield investigation on the two twins. Alaya hated the look he gave her every time he came. Like he couldn't wait to end up his infiltration in Shield to be the twin's guardian again, he just loved to see them suffer.

Alaya was lying down on her bed, she was sick. Since a few days she had had very unpleasant stomach pain and her growing chest was hurting her. Of course she had not talked about it to any scientist, she had survived Madame's torture so she was not about to break for a stomach pain.

It's when she felt her pants wet in between her legs and saw that blood was pouring from her vagina that she decided to call someone. She was intrigued.

What the hell was happening ?

A guard came and she explained to him what was happening, he sighed. They knew that eventually she would have her period, but they expected it later. He took her to a bathroom and told her to clean herself before giving her a pad and clean clothes. She quickly understood how to use it and, as soon as she was cleaned, was shoved back in her cell.

Remembering a class she had in the red room about female anatomy, Alaya understood that she was having her period. Her brother looked at her with a curious look as she entered her cell. She sat down on the ground close to the wall and told him what was happening. As always, talking in morse code. He told her in the book he had read, he saw that pain varied from one woman to another.

Alaya was actually quite shocked at how informed her brother was about period. In her training with Madame, she had learned that men were disgusted with 'ladies thing' when Calum was normally chatting about it. She suspected him to have read about it only to be prepared if it happened to her, just in case.

Alaya wished she had a mother to be here for her now, to tell her it was fine and explain instead of her brother. It's in these moments that she felt her hatred against her mother grow. In the moment where she needed a mother, she remembered that her mother had left her behind. And even though she felt like she deserved it, she couldn't help but cry sometimes. Hopping she could still escape it. Maybe.

Since she got her power, Alaya found that some visions don't come with images but only words or sentences that she hear. One of them stayed imprinted in her mind. Six words to be exact. Six words she had already heard, her Papa had told them to her. He said these words were related to her mother, that he didn't knew from where they came but that they never left his mind. And since she had heard them it was the same for her

When Fall ends, Winter is coming.

She couldn't put her finger on what they meant. But she was sure it was important, or at least that it would become. Just like for her Papa, it always came as a whisper. It was strange, like if saying it louder than a quiet whisper was forbidden. Something no one tells you you can't do, you just know. It just doesn't feel right to say it loud, as if it was a huge secret no one can know about.

Alaya got up from the ground, she looked at herself in the mirror standing on the only wall not made of glass of her cell. Her hair were still being shaved, but not as often as it used to be. Once every other month, her hair had grown a bit. We could now clearly see her hair color, it being a mix between red and brown. Her two parents hair color. It was the same for her eyes, a mix between her mother's green orbs and her father dark brown eyes. She had found she got some of her father and some of her mother in her at many occasions. Her plump lips came from her mother, her joker side coming from her father. A side they both made sure to hide from anyone.

It made her feel good, to have a part of her father with her. A part she would always have. Calum had inherit his father's need to protect everything that count to him. A side of him Alaya loved but hated at the same time. She wanted to be able to protect herself, just once in her life. She wanted to be free, just once in her life. She wanted to be independent, just once in her life. But she knew it. She could dream as much as she wanted but every time she would wake up, freedom would be far away and independence would be showing her the middle finger.

She smiled at that thought, she had learned to never make jokes out loud. Instead she said them to herself. Even if it wasn't the biggest joke, she softly smiled at the thought of independence showing her the middle finger. Imaginating the statue of liberty in the shoes of independence.

As she looked away from the mirror and to her brother, she noticed how more often visions and voices from other time would trouble her. She wasn't only seeing memories about her and her family, she was having visions from everything that ever happened.

Her nights were full of flashe's about events that have or will happen.

She would hear voices at day, it could look like she was becoming schizophrenic. But she knew it, these were visions.

Only one question was running through her head.

Would it affect her sanity ?


	12. Ten.

_This one was made to fight._

Six years.

Alaya was now fourteen, soon to be fifteen. And it seemed like the voices and visions had calmed down. There were phases, where her days and nights would be filled with voices. It felt like billions of people were entering her skull, screaming, begging, whispering in it.

Alaya had already confirmed her theory that the visions were supposed to come only when needed. So she figured that these 'phases' were just her not controlling her power the right way.

She had managed to hide this power and its 'phases' easily from the scientists and Strucker as they were all busy working a plan to take down Shield. Shield that was still running after Alaya and Calum, trying to find any hint about them.

Alaya still had visions that unlocked only when needed, but some of them were not understandable. She had had a vision about a man with a bow and an arrow and his family, she couldn't understand how that would be helpful. And she was also surprised that she had never had a vision with herself in it.

Strucker had given up experimenting on her at some point, deciding that it would never work on her. She had felt a wave of relief wash over her as she noticed no one came to strap her to a table anymore.

The fourteen years old was currently reading a book, trying to learn a new language. She loved to do that after a tough mission. Being forced to kill weighting on her conscious. Reading made her feel like she had some kind of freedom. She was reading on a language called 'Breton', trying to learn it. It was a celtic language, coming from a part Of France calles Brittany that not a lot of people knew. So she could use it in mission with Calum, since he had already learned it while she was gone.

A guard entered her cell and ordered her to get up and follow him. She noticed how another guard did the same with Calum.

The two guards walked the two twins down the hallways of the underground base. Alaya couldn't help the knot forming in her stomach. There were many chances that she was in trouble, and she was scared that a punishment would fall on her and her brother. Most of the time Alaya tried to be as quiet and obedient as she could, and when she decided not to follow orders she tried to make it as silently as possible. Using her many skills to make her actions go unnoticed. The only time Strucker really punished her was a motivation for her to be more obedient and stop being insolent. She hadn't done anything very bad, she had just refused to kill a four years old little girl.

Still, Strucker tied her to a pole on a beach while the tide was climbing. High enough so she could breath but still down so she would take the wave in her face and struggle a bit. He then left her there the whole night. She had survived it easily, it was like being drowned in a bucket full of water. An experience Alaya had already lived. It did not mean it was fun though.

The guard threw them in a room. Alaya immediately saw Strucker in a corner of the room. Calum got to his feet and helped her up, hugging her and looking for any injuries on her body. The both of them were next to each other all the time but could never touch or talk to each other with their own voices. Only on mission would they have some time together. « You okay, Aya ? » He used the nickname he had made for her, knowing it would calm her from her scared state. His gaze was soft, she was good at hiding her emotions. But she could never hide them from him, he seemed to always know.

« Yeah Cal, » She answered him, smiling softly and turning to look at Strucker. « i'm fine. » Calum seemed to finally see Strucker, and for a second Alaya forgot he hadn't had the same training as herself and question why he hadn't noticed him before.

Strucker walked to the middle of the room, coming to stand in front of the two teenagers.

« The both of you are my best assets, » He started, while brushing a thumb to Alaya's cheek. She could feel Calum's fist and jaw clench at the sight of the man's behaviour. « that is why you both will be on one of our most important mission. »

The two twins were intrigued.

 _The most important mission ?_ They both had an idea of what he was talking about. And they honestly weren't thrilled to do this dirty work. But they stayed silent, as usual. If they were, in fact, assigned to this very mission then they didn't have a say in it. Like Alaya had told herself so many times growing up. She wasn't the Puppet Master. She had strings, she couldn't decide what she did or didn't do. So she listened as he said the sentence that sent shivers down the two teenager's spine.

« You will take down Shield, » He gestured to the door. « but do not worry, you won't be alone » He then walked around the twins and put a hand on their shoulders, directing a guard to open the door. He did what the man said.

A tall, muscular man with brown, long hair entered the room. He was just like Alaya remembered, just like she had described him to her brother.

With his metal arm and the tiny red star painted on his right shoulder.

In front of them, was standing their father.

He was looking straight to the two of them, especially Calum. He wasn't stupid, he had immediately understood who the boy was. He was, on the other hand, shocked. Shocked but happy. He took a step forward but a guard stopped him, telling him that he will meet them when they are done.

Strucker give a light squeeze to their shoulders and smirked.

« I believe you were eager to meet your father. »

Alaya couldn't believe it, she felt a happiness she couldn't describe. Her face stayed blank, hiding any emotions from the guards or Strucker. But she wanted to jump out of happiness.

Her Papa was here. He was finally here.

She noticed how tired he looked, how it felt like he was coming back from the dead.

And indeed he was. All along after he lost his daughter again, the asset was down. He refused to do mission nor to train. He refused to comply.

He begged to see her, begged to talk to her. He begged and begged but never did they let him see her or talk to her.

At some point they were getting annoyed of his behaviour.They put him back into cryo and left him there until a few days ago..

Now that he faced her. _Them._ He felt relieved. She had growed up in a strong young girl. She wasn't covered in injuries like she used to be. Maybe just some bruises and cuts from her last mission. And even though he couldn't hug her before Strucker was away, he felt genuinely happy to have his little girl back. And he couldn't wait to get to know his new found son.

« The mission will take place in a few months, » Strucker interrupted his train of thoughts. « Prepare yourself. » he sternly ordered.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Part one, Part two coming soon.  
> Hope you like this story :)


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